HYDE CHESHIRE

Harry Rutherford's Festival of Britain Mural

Sunday, 26 February 2012

Parade 1904

A large parade consisting of Hyde Police and Fire Brigade on its way down Stockport Road, just passing the Ring-o-Bells pub on the left. Date 1904

Thanks to Paul Taylor for this post

It as been said the above picture looks like a young girl waving.. and I agree it dose.. but I think these are flags, there's a few sets of three flags in the picture. I will sort out more close ups to see if it helps identify the parade.

2 more crops of the original... it's been said in the comment that the prade looks to have been coming round from the side of the Clarkes Arms from what is now the top of Lumn Road. The trams are a mystery and quite unusual as it looks like there are two double deckers.. both open-topped and look to be connected to two single deck carriages.

A close up showing the single decked carriages, it also seems these are heading away from from the parade if the booms are anything to go by.

The British Electric Traction Company Ltd., were granted powers under a Tramway Order of 1896 to construct and operate an electric tramway system, and in 1897 the Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde and District Tramway Company was registered. By June 1899 the first service had begun. In the first four weeks of operation, passenger numbers were so great that it was planned to hire eight double-deck cars from Leeds to supplement the existing rolling stock of sixteen tramcars. In addition, twenty trailer cars were ordered, but, in the event, only twelve were delivered. They were not a success and although four were motorised, the remainder were seldom used and eventually offered for sale.

Oldham Ashton and Hyde Tramways took over from Hyde Corporation, 1 mile of track from Hyde to Pole Bank, Bredbury on the 1st January 1903...

I wonder if the 4 single carriages are the four motorised trailer cars mentioned above.

20 comments:

What was the reason for this parade? There's no coronation, jubilee, nor (as far as I know) any other significant Royal event, and on a worldwide basis the most recent thing which might have triggered such a parade was the ending of the Boer War, which was in 1902. The only references I can find to 1904 on a quick look through The History of Hyde are of the Mayor, Walter Ingram Sherry, laying the foundation stone of the new hospital, and on May 19th 1904 'the tram-cars between Hyde and Stalybridge ran for the first time'.

Hi Dave...I wish I could add to this but alas I have not come up with anything... In the centre of the card ... looks like it would be near the Clarks Arms are a series of Wagons in a row.... I think there are being pulled by horses.. it's hard to see of this shot.. I'll post a clipped image.. it might help with identifying the parade..

I also have this postcard which I most probably bought from Paul via EBay. Its fascinating but I have no idea what prompted the parade. The card was posted from Hyde at 9.00 pm on 3 August 1904, which was a Wednesday. Hope someone can unravel the mystery for us!

Are they soldiers at the front of the parade? Tom's caption says 'A large parade consisting of Hyde Police and Fire Brigade......', so are they policemen in dress uniform? What I can't make out is what those vehicles(?) behind the fire engine are. The parade itself doesn't seem to be coming along Stockport Road - look at the angle of the fire engine, it seems to have turned into Stockport Road from Lumn Road - and the crowd of people at the side of the road only starts at Meadow Street, there's no-one further up Stockport Road. I've found another reference to 1904 in The History of Hyde: 'The Public Park, comprising 24.7 acres, was given by the Misses Ashton, of Newton and Little Onn Hall, Staffordshire, and was opened on May 21st, 1904.' I don't think that would have merited such a grand parade though.

On the corner of the house at the junction with Lumn Road there is what appears to be a black flag and there appears to be one curled up on the house opposite.I still think it could have been a funeral but I have no idea who's it could have been.

Was the photo taken in 1904, or was that just the date the postcard was sent? The coronation of King Edward VII took place in 1902 and The History of Hyde says that as part of the festivities: 'After the singing of the National Anthem the procession paraded the principal streets, and finally entered the park........'On the other hand a trawl round the internet has found for 1904: '8 April - Entente Cordiale signed between the United Kingdom and France' and '24 May - Celebration of Empire Day introduced to the UK by Lord Meath'.

The more you look at this picture, the more you see! Dave is right when he says that the card was posted in 1904 but there is nothing to say that the photo was taken at that time. I've been looking at the pub with a magnifier and it looks to be well decorated with flowers and 2 groups of 3 flags either side of the door. Looking also at the pub roof I can see what looks like the figure of a girl alongside the chimney stack. She appears to be waving and there seems to be a large flag up there too. Willa someone please check this out and tell me im hallucinating again?!

Does that left-most flag on the chimney stack look like a French Tricolore? It could be a celebration of the signing of the Entente Cordiale, or might it have something to do with this . What's that written on the postcard - I can read 'Werneth' but what's the other word?

I think the writing on the postcard is to do with the message on the back. If you notice there is a cross clearly marked over a guy's head outside the pub. I've emailed a scan of the back to Tom but I don't really think it gives any clue to the mystery of this picture.

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